That handsome looking bag pictured above the is the Lowepro Classified Sling 180 AW. It is, as the name implies, a sling style bag (ie, you wear it like a backpack but then swing it around so the bag is on your belly to work with the gear, then sling it back out of the way.) The Classified series is Lowepro’s answer to ThinkTank’s Urban Disguise series, and is meant to fill a market for photographers who need high quality, roomy bags that don’t look like the stereotypical camera bag or have clearly visible logos (logos being, apparently, what makes crooks think “Man, I should steal that.”) To that end, the Classified Sling 180 AW maintains a narrow, nondescript profile, with the logo subtly pressed into some classy leather accents. The AW means “All Weather,” and like many of Lowepro’s bags this sucker has an integrated seam-sealed rain cover you can pull out to keep your precious gear dry even if caught unawares.

I’ve been trying one of these out for a couple weeks so I could get you some thoughts on it. I’ve used only shoulder bags since I got into this field, so I wanted to give this new and increasingly popular form factor a go. I went with the 180 over its larger brother, the 220,  because I like to keep my bag down as tight as possible because I tend to bike around with these, and the smaller the bag the better. I also started with it with a more compact system (Olympus E-3), and am ending with a much chunkier kit (Nikon D700). So, what do I think? Well, let’s get to that.

Outside the press shots, this is the bag itself. Nothing to complain about here. It’s compact (and should be airplane carry-on compatible, though with ever changing regulations and providers, check first), and the material and construction are good. It’s not as flamboyant as my old Crumpler, but that’s the “Classified” for you. The exterior is high quality nylon, with the softer, brushed stuff inside. No surprises there. The main strap is padded for daily wear, and the two parts of the strap are sewn directly into the bag, no worrying about D-rings here. There’re lots of zippers across the bag, and each one has two zipper pulls for the same stretch, and they all have large, leather pull tabs on them for easy grabbing.

And some shots of the sides.

The main strap has a buckle in the middle so you can take it off quickly (really useful for slinging the bag off into a passenger seat) which is fitted with a heavy-duty plastic snap buckle. I’ve been carrying some pretty hefty gear around in this without any issue, so I feel pretty safe with it, but the usual concerns about plastic snap buckles and fatigue and sensitivity to cold apply here. Though, this sucker’s huge, and I find it unlikely it’ll have issues. Just in case, for extended transport I recommend using the smaller stabilizing strap which I’ll show later.

One last thing to point out on the outside is the “back” of the bag. That is, the part that’s be resting against your own back. In this case, it’s nicely padded with a soft, breathable mesh with a neat, stylish arrow stamped into it (indicating, roughly, the direction of rotation for the bag. Nice.

OK. Let’s get to poking around inside this thing. On one of the sides of the bag, which rotates around to become the top when you sling it around, you’ll find the main zippered compartment.

Now, because this panel is technically on the side when on your back, Lowepro’s considerately added a small buckle near the bottom of it that acts as a safety measure in case anything happens to the zippers. A nice touch, I think. Just a quick pinch to release that and you can unzip the main section and lift the lid up (which lifts out away from you when in the front, belly position. Another nicety.)

Not too bad. That’s my D700 sitting there with a 24-70mm f2.8 attached. With the hood reversed. If you’ve handled that gear, you know it isn’t small. If you haven’t, know that it’s huge gear. The D700 is about as big as a single grip body gets, and the hood on the 24-70mm measures 5.25″ in diameter. Off to the side, looking downright diminutive, is the 70-300mm f4.5-5.6 VR, also with its hood reversed. There’s a nice space off to the right for me to get my hand in and around the grip to pull the camera out, and other than the viewfinder prism being a bit tall, it’s really painless getting the camera out. Up above, you can see the card holders inside the lid, with Lowepro’s new-ish card state indicator flaps. If you haven’t used these, there are two flaps, one with an empty card, and one with a filled one. You just flip the appropriate one onto the top and then can tell quickly which cards are spent and which are still fresh.

Behind the card holders is a thin, zippered compartment that just begs for cables, but will fit body and rear caps and the like. Mind though, the bulkier the item you put in there, the harder it’ll be to swap cards out and the more likely it’ll be for your prism to catch on the lid. You’ve been warned.

Off to the left of the main compartment is a little tab that’s easy to over-look that lets you have quick access into the etcetera storage compartment at the tip of the bag. There’s also a thin slip-pocket built into that divider wall that’s easier to access from here than from the compartment’s own zippered entry. Also, the top compartment is walled off by a moveable padded divider, so you can tweak just how much space you want up there.

The other way into this compartment is from the outside, behind another double-pulled zipper. In general, the space will hold a surprising amount of odds-and-ends, and has two pen slots and flapped compartment probably intended for a cellphone, though with my flat slate-style phone I prefer the easier access of that slip pocket on the other side. The inside of this lid has a stretchy pocket with a small velcro tab seal, and a small lanyard with a plastic clip.

Now, back to the main compartment real quick. It’s got a selection of movable dividers, as you’d expect, so you can customize it a fair deal for your gear. Some nice details, though, are the curved, soft-nylon padded bumpers on the dividers designed to support the camera’s weight, the segmented sub-dividers which let them wrap around curved equipment without coming undone, and the easy to find bright orange pull tabs on the liftable sections. In addition to the D700, 24-70, and 70-300mm I have room in my bag for another medium sized lens, the caps, a filter, the charger block, and my Skyport trigger. I tried, and the bag just barely won’t fit an SB-900 in alongside the D700, but I’m shoving a large body into the smaller bag, such a compromise is acceptable. The larger 220 size would probably handle the additional flash easily.

If you do run out of space, you’re not completely out of options. On the main strap there’s a reinforced loop to add any of Lowepros sliplock modular bags, of which there are many and which’ll give you a quick way to carry one extra sizey piece of gear. The only downside to this solution is the lock sits pretty high on the shoulder, so the added pouch sits a bit weirdly. If you happen to walk around with a pet crow, you’ll probably be right at home, but otherwise get used to an unexpected black object brushing against your face if you turn around.

OK, while we’re on the outside of the bag, a few more features. There’s a small stabilizing strap that tucks away inside the bag when you aren’t using it, and which goes across your ribs and snaps in with another plastic buckle when you are.

There’s also a small pad on the bottom of the main strap, which serves as a convenient handle to grab when slinging the bag, and becomes your shoulder pad while the bag is in its slung position. It’s not as effective as the sewn-in padding of the main strap, but then again, you aren’t supposed to be in the slung position for long. It’s still another of those nice touches.

On the side opposite the main compartment is a nylon strap with buckle which is designed to hold your tripod with the help of a heavy nylon pouch (which also tucks away when not in use.) You stick on foot in the pouch, then secure the center column with the strap. Needless to say, be discriminating in your tripod choice, as bigger and heavier will really mess with your balance and start killing your shoulder.

There’s also that AW bit, the seam-sealed rain cover, which tucks away in the bottom and is tethered to the bag so you don’t lose it. Pulling it on is quick and you can see it adequately covers all the zippers. It also has a pretty subtly printed Lowepro logo. Lowepro and ThinkTank are the only guys regularly including these, so, it’s still something of a nice luxury above and beyond the usual. And an appreciated one.

Now, last feature is the laptop pouch. This is the fun bit. The specs says it only supports smaller netbooks, but, if you have one of the newer 13″ uniobdy Macbook or Macbook Pros, they’ll just fit. And, since the snug dimensions are height and width, not depth, you have enough space left on top for some documents. Or a Kindle in a Domke wrap.

And that’s about it. It’s a nice bag, and I’ve come to like it more and more in the time I’ve been using it. It’s become my primary bag, actually. It has a few cons, most notably that it’s not exactly easy on the shoulder (although if you skip the laptop it’s a lot more comfy, I think the fact that the laptop’s on the outside give it extra leverage and makes it feel heavier than it is.) I think that’s true of all slings, though, and if long-wear comfort is a concern look towards a backpack. For shorter durations, the sling works fine, and you can’t beat the convenience.

Other notes: The top cavity gets a bit cluttered. Gear can be a bit sung to fit. That said, it fits more gear than I expected it to. It’s really pretty trim, and it has lots of well planned features and handles. There’s always a handle at hand just where I want it to be. I like that. I’ve biked with it both on my back and on the rack, and nothing’s sustained any damage. It’s solid.

And, with that, I leave you with a shot of what I can easily carry in this bag. With a little work and some snugness, you might be able to fit more. And remember, this is the small one.

Fine purveyors of quality active gear

So we like bags, here at Roberts. Yes we do. Bags, see, they let you carry more and diverse things than you might with just your hands or a few buckles and straps. Sometimes all you need is a couple of straps and 1/4-20″ screws but other times you’re going to get on a motorcycle, or a bicycle, or a pair of skis and you know what? You’ll want a Boblbee for it.

Boblbee’s Megalopolis Aero line will hold a laptop up to 14″x10″x2″. And to comment on why you’d want to put your laptop in a Boblbee, we’ll refer to the guy who came up with the concept:

For years, Jonas Blanking has left his car at home in favor of his bike or a pair of roller skates to get to work. Always equipped with a backpack to accommodate working notes, sketches, a laptop and some gym wear it bothered him, that on the way, soggy books and an occasionally fractured laptop casing were the result of forgetting what he carried.

Speaking from experience, unexpected laptop repairs are crap. What’s worse than that? Back injuries. What, pray, does a Boblbee bag have to do with protecting your precious vertebrae? The Megalopolis Aero line is classified as “Protector Level 2″ – a standard (European Norm 1621-2:2003) whose particulars I hesitate to interpret fully but you ought to check for yourself at our favorite free encyclopedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorcycle_armor#Back_protectors

In addition to holding 1200-1500 cubic inches of your stuff, a hard shell with soft sides, superior aerodynamics, and water resistance the Aero line weighs four pounds on its own and comes in nine colors. Nine colors with gnarly names like: Darth for Glossy Black, Spirit for Silver Metallic, et cetera.

To the local Roberts Shopper, I’m sorry to note that we won’t be stocking these bad boys for you to heft in hand. The terms of our dealership have us shipping direct from Boblbee -which is to say from the state of Nevada. Time in transit for these will be at the availability of the manufacturer.

These bags are big and roomy and, well, why don’t you just watch?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHH35tlcSYM

And, if our take’s not enough, don’t forget Jared “The Fro” Polin over at Fro Knows Photo, whose take on theRetrospective 30 we’ve politely YouTube ninja’ed below for your viewing enjoyment.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7f8Ow9CTsjg

Well, what an inconspicuous piece of luggage.

In an effort to conceal your pro-sized D-SLR and attached 70-200 2.8, ThinkTank has developed another iteration of their successful Urban Disguise line -this the UD70. Bask in it’s disguised urbanity…

Oooooh, rolling luggage and a back-pack...

The appropriately named Airport Takeoff from ThinkTank, another entry from in their newest line-up, serves double duty as your rolling luggage and hanging on your back like the three-thirty coffee itch. It’s suited for holding two professional sized DSLRs (You know, D3, 1D/s I-III) with or without lenses attached and a decent slab of glass in the order of a 300mm 2.8.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TalVu6utwgU

They are also some mad-hat haters. I for one am pretty thrilled that my e-410 can, with an adapter, mount a manual focus 50 1.8 from the OM system or Nikon or EOS and have an equivalent 100mm 1.8. Mr. Proctor quipped that he could achieve the same result by cropping his images by 50%. My retort was that my cropped sensor still has all its pixels…and he shot back with the higher pixel density = more noise argument. I weakened, fell back on “control your lighting” and was trampled under the powerful tag-team assault of from Rich’s “I like shooting at ISO 3200 and having it look like 1600″ and Scott’s “why don’t you just draw a picture” jab at my fumbling “I’ll fix it in post!”

My Shooting-Fu is yet weak in its reliance on fixing things like white balance, exposure recovery, and cropping in post, and I must yet tremble before the masters who complete mathy-like equations involving focal length, aperture, apples, oranges, and jalapenos while panning their manual focus lenses without even thinking about it. I am currently more concerned about composition and the more squishy notion of a photograph’s “feel” than being technically perfect right from the camera (because, you know, there’s no on-board firmware making decisions about color balance, contrast, etc).

So have fun with the below:

Where my new Crumpler bags were hellishly in need of some white balancing I went back and used the handy one-touch WB function and shot it again. Mostly to keep playing with the new gallery function Mr. Martin has implemented in the blog.

See you Thursday, folks.

“So…….below is a photo of how I use the Flipside 300 to hold my Canon 500 f4 lens…  plus the Wimberley Sidekick, which many shooters use with the 500 to control the lens nicer on the tripod.  To be able to put both in one small bag is a dream!!  You have no idea how excited about this I am!!  I have shown it to so many people.

“It all fits in the pack perfectly…and you should put a photo of the 500 in the Flipside (300) for one of your alternate views on the site.  This is huge!!  No one makes a good bag or small backpack for the 500…and it probably fits many other big lenses too from Canon and Nikon.  Don’t overlook this…  It is huge in my opinion.”

“The CompuTrekker is my favorite pack ever made…and I love it to death.  I have sold countless bags for you from showing it in all of my photography classes… I show them how much gear it can handle…and how well it contours to the back….and then let them know it fits a laptop with ease. This is key because I do so many photo presentations when I am leading photo tours…….and I need my laptop so often.  It really is the most versatile pack made in the world and no one in my opinion, has anything close.”

Our Lowepro rep sent us this from an “anonymous Canon tech rep.”  (Lowepro of course making those imperative digital camera accessories, the camera bags, and making them well. I used a Rezo 160AW for quite some time before giving it to my dad). We’ll accept some healthy skepticism towards the authenticity of the testimony, but we have to admit, the picture included is good, because apparently the 500mm monster of Canon lenses does actually fit in the Flipside 300 quite cozy. Really. See the picture below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_3-6TKjh9Y

Thanks again to Chris and Tony who came out this week, despite the chill, despite the humidity, despite the overcast, way too evenly diffused lighting.

I ran into a snag, of sorts this week, one which I intend to Crumple next week. The snag? Adding Derek’s Lensbaby 3G to my bag for a few days. Now my handy little Olympus kit bag is bursting with kitted goodness and things are more crowded than a Tokyo subway. Despite my 410′s dinky body, one attached and two floating lenses is more bacon than the pan can handle.

My chosen solution is the Crumpler Six Million Dollar Home. I know you know that D-mart is a Crumpler devotee, and I’m getting convinced myself. They’re heavy duty, water-repellent bags with massive amounts of velcro, fat padding, and are run by guys who will measure the capacity of their bags with six packs. Now if only camera manufacturers would start using jiggers as a metric for bokeh…